The Principle of the Common Cause

A conceptually and mathematically rigorous analysis of the common cause principle and its status in quantum theory.

Gábor Hofer-Szabó (Author), Miklós Rédei (Author), László E. Szabó (Author)

9781107019355, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 May 2013

208 pages, 10 b/w illus. 2 tables 20 exercises
25.2 x 17.9 x 1.4 cm, 0.58 kg

'I would encourage many readers to approach this book. It is clear and, as far as possible, concise. It doesn't neglect any important aspect of the state-of-the-art concerning the Principle. I would recommend this reading to any physicist and particularly to those interested in complex systems and statistical physics. … I think the book might also interest scholars in the field of philosophy of science. It should also be considered for acquisition by academic libraries, since it deals with a relatively new subject which could be applied in different fields. This book might also constitute a good discussion basis for interesting seminars for future PhDs and would represent a good text book for post-graduate students.' Marco Casazza, Contemporary Physics

The common cause principle says that every correlation is either due to a direct causal effect linking the correlated entities or is brought about by a third factor, a so-called common cause. The principle is of central importance in the philosophy of science, especially in causal explanation, causal modeling and in the foundations of quantum physics. Written for philosophers of science, physicists and statisticians, this book contributes to the debate over the validity of the common cause principle, by proving results that bring to the surface the nature of explanation by common causes. It provides a technical and mathematically rigorous examination of the notion of common cause, providing an analysis not only in terms of classical probability measure spaces, which is typical in the available literature, but in quantum probability theory as well. The authors provide numerous open problems to further the debate and encourage future research in this field.

Preface
1. Introduction and overview
2. The common cause principle
3. Common cause extendability of probability spaces
4. Causally closed probability theories
5. Common common causes
6. Common cause extendability of non-classical probability spaces
7. Reichenbachian common cause systems
8. Causal closedness of quantum field theory
9. Reichenbach's common cause principle and EPR correlations
10. Where do we stand?
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Quantum physics [quantum mechanics & quantum field theory PHQ], Physics [PH], History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Science: general issues [PD]